625

was intended by those who had been at the trouble to ob-tain signatures to the requisition convening the meeting,and to sketch out resolutions with the view of leading tothat discussion. That the amendment affirming the pro-priety of leaving the single examination in the hands ofthe corporations should have been lost, after some discus-sion, shows how widely spread the feeling of distrust in thecorporations really is; and though the meeting was hardlyprepared, probably, to go the length of the original resolu-tion, the amendment eventually accepted can be regardedonly as a compromise. The College of Surgeons must ofnecessity include among its examiners many gentlemen re-nowned both as anatomists and surgeons (in fact, as waspointed out by Mr. HEATH, the University of London,hasfrequently and gladly embraced the services of these verygentlemen in their capacity of examiners) ; and it was onlyreasonable, therefore, that the meeting should wish to seethis high standard maintained in any new board which Imight be called into existence.The action of the Privy Council in connexion with the

proposed Medical Bill is so fully discussed by us elsewhere,that we need not stop to remark upon Dr. EDWARD SMITH’Smotion relating to the subject, except to note that it issomewhat unusual-though perhaps a healthy sign of thetimes-to have a gentleman, himself so closely connectedwith one department of Government, giving such decidedhome-thrusts to another and allied department.The question of the right of the Fellows and Members of £

the College of Surgeons to elect a representative-or rather,as suggested by Dr. CRISP, representatives-in the GeneralMedical Council, was perhaps as important a question ascould have been brought before the meeting at the presentjuncture. The proposed Medical Bill leaves the formationof the General Medical Council in statu quo, notwithstandingthe unanimous feeling of the profession respecting its

shortcomings; and though Sir J ORN GBAT’s Bill providedfor this representation by the clumsy method of adding tothe number of the Council, the corporate interests are aloneconsidered by the Lord President. If the right of the corpo-ration of the College of Surgeons to elect one or more re-

presentatives in the General Medical Council is conceded,there will be at least in some sort a representation of thefifteen thousand Fellows and Members who form that body;and the concession of this right will in all probability followthe distinct assertion of opinion last week, as has always beenthe case when once the Council of the College have ascertainedthe set of the tide of popular feeling. Should it not, it will

still be open to the Fellows and Members to try the ques-tion in the Court of Queen’s Bench, and we have no doubtthe necessary funds will be forthcoming if required.

THE Medical Council resolved on Thursday to discuss theGovernment Bill clause by clause; and it had not gone farinto the discussion before disclosing a deep dislike to whatwe suspect is a vital part of the Bill. The disclosure was

made in the discussion of Clause 3, which runs as follows :-"after the date fixed for the commencement of ex-

aminations by the first medical examining board ap-pointed under this Act, no person who is not at that datequalified to be registered under the principal Act shall be

registered under that Act, unless he has, after examinationby a medical examining board appointed under this Act,obtained a licence to practise in medicine and surgeryunder this Act."

Mr. HAwKiNs moved, and the Council consented veryheartily to, the substitution for the words " a licence," ofthe words 6° a certificate of competency." Our readers will

remember that the Bill provides for the establishment of a

Conjoint Board in each division of the kingdom; whichBoard alone is to grant a licence to practise. In other

words, although the Bill, in its future clauses, contemplatesaffiliation with one of the present corporations or univer-sities in virtue of passing the Conjoint Board, yet the strictlicensing power rests with the Conjoint Board, and is, byClauses 3,19, &c., taken away from the existing corporationsand universities acting singly. It was argued by theCouncil, very plaintively, that this was the abolition of apower belonging to the single corporations, that was atonce time-honoured and profitable. Moreover, the clausewas not consistent with the clause in the plan of the Coun-cil framed to secure a complete conjoint examination, butrequiring affiliation with one of the licensing bodies

after passing the Conjoint Board as a condition of registra-tion. Strong were the expressions used by several membersof the Council. And the desire to retain the licensingpower was almost universal. If the Scotch representativeswere a little more eloquent than others, Dr. BENNETT, onbehalf of the London College of Physicians, and Dr. AquiLLASMITH and others on behalf of the Irish bodies, spoke tothe same effect. The motion was made by Mr. C2ESARHAwKiNs, who represents the College of Surgeons of

England.It will be seen how difficult it is to please all parties.

Most of us think that far too much power is still left to the

corporations in this Bill. They see in it an abolition of oneof the least of their functions-acting in their individualcapacity,-and a great risk of a diminution of their ineome.

It remains to be seen how far the Government will insist

upon the examination by the Conjoint Board carrying a

perfect licence to practise. They must insist upon it, and,if the Bill is not to be a mockery, it must be the only licence.It will never do to add to the present nineteen licencesa twentieth. Perhaps both the Government and the

Corporations may yet come round to our view of the case,and see the wisdom of establishing a perfectly independentLicensing Board, the fee for passing which should be justenough to pay the cost of examination. This would leave

the person who passes it both the desire to be affiliated with

a corporation and the money to pay for it.

Medical Annotations."Neq1Ùd nimis." ’

ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURCICAL SOCIETY.

AT the meeting of this Society on Tuesday evening theadjourned debate on Mr. Gant’s paper on the Excision ofJoints was continued and concluded, being maintainedchiefly by Messrs. Callender, H. Lee, Willett., Hancock,Savory, and T. Smith. Contrasted with former discussions

i upon the same subject it was remarkable for the absence of

626

any opposition to excision as an operation, the procedure logy to physiologists, and the speed with which he sankbeing now firmly established in the convictions and the into an abyss of inaccurate observation and inconclusivepractice of the leading surgeons of the metropolis. In the reasoning. Macaulay has illustrated the mental state offirst debate, it was suggested by Mr. Solly that excision was biographers by describing how Middleton, after destroyinghardly as much performed in country districts as it might the pretensions of half the Romish Calendar, "composed abe, and that some limbs which might be saved were now lying legend in honour of St. Tully." In like manner,sacrificed by amputation. In this remark there is doubtless Professor Tyndall has elevated Pasteur into an oracle,much justice; but, at the same time, it must be remem- and describes the "fact and inference" of Professor Listerbered that excision, especially of the knee-joint, is an ope- as "a spot of perfectly firm ground." Dr. Bastian, on theration requiring very careful and often prolonged after- contrary, calls them 11 a treacherous morass." He does so ontreatment. This is very easy in a great hospital; but it is the evidence of researches of his own, the details of which

by no means easy in a country hospital, where there are have not been fully given to the world.perhaps no pupils, and where the resident surgical officer is The time has not yet come for us to form a confidentalready overworked. In private practice it is often utterly opinion on the profoundly difficult and important questionimpossible; and the surgeon has then not only to consider of spontaneous generation. Nor is it at present possible towhat form of operation is abstractedly the most desirable, determine the exact value of Professor Lister’s antisepticbut also, and even primarily, what form of operation there treatment, which requires great care and minute trouble inis the greatest probability of his being able to conduct to a its application. It is to be admitted, on the one hand, thatsuccessful issue. An amputation may require very little many surgeons have tried and have been disappointed by it;looking after when once the shock of its performance is and, on the other, that Professor Lister, Mr. Bickersteth,over; but an excision, especially if it does not prosper, and others have obtained very remarkable results. It iscannot be left without daily and prolonged attendance. The quite possible that these results have nothing to do withcountry surgeon, therefore, especially among the poor, who the existence or the destruction of germs ; and, aparthave almost a monopoly of the neglected joint disease for from germs, the treatment may be good. The surgicalwhich chiefly operation is required, is very far from being a question and the physiological are practically distinct. Iffree agent, and must accommodate himself to circum- the question of germs is not, strictly speaking, a surgicalstances, and do what he can rather than what he would one, still less is it one for a physicist. Professor Tyndallwish. It will be one of the benefits of the cottage hospital appears to promise that he will return to the question atthat in many districts conservative surgery will for the some future time. We hope, if only for the sake of hisfirst time be rendered possible by its aid. In the meanwhile own reputation, he will by that time have learnt greaterMr. Gant’s paper, and the interesting debate that it called caution in traversing a country the landmarks of which areforth, will serve to keep the attention of the profession strange to him. Especially do we hope that he will notdirected to this important subject. again publish an account of an elaborate experiment, in a

____ special box half glass and half wood, and with the aid of

PROFESSOR TYNDALL. an electric lamp, for the purpose of showing that suspended

PROFESSOR TYNDALL. motes will sink when the air around them is at rest. We

PROFESSOR TYNDALL has reappeared as a controversialist can conceive no nearer approach to taking tea by stratagemin the columns of The Times. We have already noticed the than this; unless it were an experiment still more elaborate,letter to that journal which revived the memory of the to show that the heavier motes would be the first to reach

almost forgotten lecture on Dust and Disease; and, coin- the bottom of the box. ____

cidently with our notice, it was sufficiently answered byDr.Charlton Bastian. To this answer Professor Tyndall has A LONDON MEETlNC OF THE MEDICAL

replied, using a certain personality and almost intemperate- REFORM UNION.

ness of language, very characteristic of insufficiency of fact THE executive of the Medical Reform Union have deter-and argument. He terminates his letter by a declaration that mined to hold a meeting in London, at the Freemasons’for a long time to come he will not be able to devote any Tavern, on Saturday, May 7th, to discuss the merits of theattention to the subject; but this notice of withdrawal from Medical Bill now brought before Parliament, particulars ofthe debate has not saved him from a damaging rejoinder at which will be found in our advertising columns. This datethe hands of his antagonist. Dr. Bastian is, we think, some- will be too late to influence the course of the Bill in thewhat less skilful than the Professor in the construction of House of Lords. But the House of Commons is the placetelling sentences; although there is a stinging touch of where an organisation representing 10,000 practitionerssarcasm in his suggestion that the brilliancy of Pasteur as may be expected to have influence. The Union has actedan experimenter "has doubtless blinded many to his de- with eminent discrimination and moderation throughout itsfects as a reasoner." His strength as against Professor whole course. We believe it is the wish of the executive to

Tyndall lies in his mastery of the subject, and in his power promote the fullest discussion, and to come to resolutionsto avoid errors into which the eminent physicist has un- really expressing the views of the unprecedented number ofconsciously fallen. It is probable that the intellect can medical men who have signed the Memorial. We urge

only be rendered unbiased by the possession of the most especially the discussion of the following features of thecomplete attainable knowledge, and that men take sides Bill.

upon all subjects on which their information is incomplete. First, that it leaves the General Medical Council un-"The human mind," said Luther, "is like a drunken peasant altered in its composition,-with eighteen or nineteen re-on horseback : set him up on one side, and he falls over on presentatives of corporations, to six Crown members ; thethe other." Professor Tyndall would accurately weigh every consequence being-and this will be the second point toelement in a problem concerning heat or sound. But when consider-that Government proposes to take the final powerhe strays into the tempting fields afforded by the pheno- over all the medical bodies into its own hands. Entirely over-mena of life, his caution deserts him, he begins his letters powered in the Council, it provides for a power entirely in-as a partisan, and ends them by being angry. Similar in- dependent of the Council, and supreme. It is surely payingstances are not far to seek. We all know the way in which dearly for the present composition of the Council, that thea distinguished man of letters set himself to teach physio- independent self-government of the profession has to be

627

bartered away to maintain it. Thirdly, that the Bill leaves be that, when the number of existing examiners is reducedthe corporations masters of the examining situation, and to five, some eminent surgeon not on the Council will havecontemplates a scheme which will leave them pecuniarily to be elected to the surgical board-an infusion of newinterested in passing numbers, and which will involve an blood by no means to be regretted.artificially high payment for a mere licence to practise, in ————

other words, a tax upon the profession. We wish to see the PROFESSOR LAYCOCK ON LADY MEDICALcorporations elevated in character and function, as well as STUDENTS.pecuniarily prosperous, by relieving them of the licensing

THERE are very varying opinions abroad in the medicalfunctions altogether, and devolving these upon an entirely THERE are very varying opinions abroad in the medicalindependent Board, to be elected by, and responsible to, a profession and among the public as to the advisability of

reformed Medical Council,-not to a Government department. allowing women to practise medicine. There are still more

We confidently look for the concurrence of the Union upon serious and widely-spread doubts as to the possibility of

the first two points. On the second there may be more educating ladies in the same lecture-rooms and dissecting-difference of opinion, though there are many indications of rooms with male students. But until last week we were

the feeling of the profession in favour of an independent not aware that anyone, in the profession or out of it, held

examining board. that the mere fact of ladies wishing to be educated inWe have only one suggestion to make to the numerous common with men, in order that they might make sure of

members of the Reform Union. A large number of them receiving the highest and most thorough scientific training,have not yet sent the very small subscription which would justified those who held contrary opinions in loading thembe necessary not only to pay of the balance of .8100 still

with abuse and vulgar insult. It has been reserved for

due to the treasurer, but to leave the Union in the posses- Dr. Laycock, professor in the famous University of Edin-

sion of funds for further work during the course of the Bill burgh, to set an example which, we trust, even the leastin the House of Commons. Let every man who signed the courteous and gentlemanly of first-year’s students will

memorial immediately send a small subscription to the hesitate to follow.

treasurer, and he will greatly contribute to the power of We need not recapitulate the dispute about Miss Pechey’sthe profession in Parliament in the ensuing weeks. treatment in reference to the Hope scholarship ; but atWe have one suggestion for the executive-to make the any rate we shall not be contradicted when we say that

meeting representative of every class of practitioners and everyone who read Miss Pechey’s own letter to The Times onof every branch of practice. the subject, must have at once perceived that she was a

If these suggestions are carried out, the meeting of the lady of high mental cultivation, and with very noble views

7th in the Freemasons’ Tavern may let people know that of the aims of science. It was notoriously in consequencethe profession is capable of organisation, of harmony, and of the strong feeling which this lady’s case excited thatof exerting power.

zn Professor Masson proposed to the General Council of the

————

Edinburgh University the removal of all restrictions pre-

THE LATE RETROCRESSION. venting male and female students of medicine from study-JUSTICE to Ireland is the order of the day; and we should ing together in the same class-rooms. It was therefore

be sorry that Mr. Quain should be deprived of the smallest to Miss Pechey, or to ladies like her, that the expressions

particle of credit due to him. On Friday week, in a very of Professor Laycock must, by inference, be applied. We

excited speech, Mr. Quain claimed the unconfirmed motion are not going to repeat those expressions here. We shall

respecting the division of the Court of Examiners to which only remark, that if the coarsest of those few students

we referred last week, as his own, and not Mr. Humphry’s; who still keep alive the bad traditions of the Bob Sawyer

and as he had certainly brought forward a precisely similar period had given utterance to the insinuations which wereand as he had certainly brought forward a precisely similar used by this distinguished

,.... the excep tion of the subs ....- of the word used by this distinguished professor, we should simplymotion, with the exception of the substitution of the word have shrugged distinguished and concluded that the simply‘four" for "half," we will willingly concede the point if have shrugged our shoulders, and concluded that the delin-"four" for "half," we will willingly concede the point if ,111. once n with - - r i.Mr. Quain will condescend to solve the following dilemma quent would be at once expelled with ignominy from his

in which we find ourselves to solve the following Quain’s, school. Unfortunately there are no such punishments forin which we imd ourselves:-If the motion was Mr. (Quains, i. ,1 1 i 1.1 Dr.L i but at the i st wewhy, in the name of common sense, was its rejection post- highly-placed men like Dr. Laycock, but at the least we

poned because Mr. Humphry -was absent its rejection post- can express the deep indignation and disgust which we areWe quite appreciate the difficulty in which the Council certain every gentleman in the profession must feel at the

has been landed by the two resolutions-requiring one-half outrage of which he has been guilty.the Court of Examiners to be outside the Council, and also

-

separating the examiners in anatomy and physiology from PARASITES OF THE FEMALE CENERATIVE

those in surgery, as proposed by Mr. Curling. The charter ORCANS.

of 1843 requires that there shall be six examiners to form AN essay on this subject has recently been published bya Court for granting the surgical diploma; and, therefore, Dr. D. Haussmann, of Berlin, the prominent points ofif the present ten examiners are equally divided (which is which we here append. The animals examined were-mare,by no means necessary however) to form two separate rabbit, guinea-pig, rat, bitch, and cat, and great care wasboards, one member of the anatomical board must sit with taken to procure the vaginal mucus from as great a depththe surgical board to make up the quorum. Probably four as possible, and free from contamination. He divides them

examiners in anatomy and physiology would be sufficient into (a) vagrant, (b) animal, and (c) vegetable parasitesfor all practical requirements, and three vacancies to be subdividing the first again into-1, those proceeding fromthus filled up must occur this year. Mr. Quain has had without, either from germs carried by the air, or fromthe satisfaction of announcing to the Fellows and Members local contact, or from the dens or lairs of the animals;that his resignation is already in the President’s hands; 2, those proceeding from the urinary organs ; and, 3,and the applause with which this announcement was those proceeding from the intestinal canal, either bygreeted may possibly move some other member of the migration, uncleanliness, or through nstulae between theCourt to follow so good an example. rectum and vagina. Amongst the first group he has foundAs regards the unconfirmed motion, the worst that can the thecas of a fungus, probably identical with the Spori-

happen, if it is eventually carried, as we hope it may be, will desmium fuscum and the spores of two other kinds of

628

fungus, itch insects, and smut and rust spores derived from merits of the case are not yet clearly brought out. For this thethe hay or straw upon which the animals have rested. Board of Management and the special committee appointedAmongst the second group he has discovered or met with to inquire into the matter appear to us to blame, by reasonrecords of the echinococcus, the eggs of the Distomum and of their imperfect publication of the facts. We cannot com-Oxyuris, Strongylus gigas, and Pentastomum denticulatum, pliment Mr. Rouch on the style in which he writes chargesand of the Sarcina. Lastly, amongst the third group he against the matron, nor on the proofs with which he sup-has found the ova of Tænia solium,Ascaris lumbricoides, the ports them. There is a want of dignity in the language,Leptothrix buccalis, and in rabbits, Cryptococcus guttulatus. and a want of conclusiveness in the proofs. Still a fewThe only animal parasite included under the second of the things are very clear, which seem to show that in almostabove heads to which he alludes is the Trichomonas vagi- dismissing Mr. Rouch, and retaining, with very scant cen-nalis, an infusorial animalcule of round or oval form, with sure, the matron, the Board is seriously responsible. It isa bluish-grey contractile integument, and provided with a admitted even by the committee that the matron used in-whip-like cilium in front, and a stiff process behind. These sulting language to Mr. Rouch. It is true that the com-

appear to be very resistent of external influences, continuing mittee allege that Mr. Rouch gave the matron great provo-their movements in the mucus of the vagina even when cation; but, as they have chosen not to publish the detailsvery acid. The organisms included under the third head of of the evidence, we have to take this upon their word, andvegetable parasites are vibrios and bacteria, the Leptothrix it seems much more likely that the provocation was thevaginalis, and Oidium albicans. He made numerous expe- other way. Secondly, it is made out that the matron hasriments with the object of propagating various fungi, as caused beef-tea to be made on economical principles, andthe Penicillium glaucum, Aspergillus glaucus, Microsporon the assertion that she made it so on the request of Mr.furfur, Botrytis cinerea, Mucor mucedo, and Mucor stolo- Rouch is disproved by the evidence of the cook, who was innifer, in the vagina or vaginal mucus, but with uniformly the infirmary before Mr. Rouch’s time. Thirdly, the entire-negative results. ____ sympathy of the press, and of the patients, subscribers,

nurses, and servants of the infirmary, seems to be withTHE SANITARY CONDITION OF EASTBOURNE. Mr. Rouch and his two resident colleagues, who have also

THE local authority of Eastbourne has set itself to work resigned. Not only so, but the resident medical officers

to carry out thoroughly Dr. Thorne Thorne’s recommenda- have been entertained, since their resignation, at a compli-

tions for the sanitary improvement of the town. It has nientary dinner given by members of the medical professioncalled to its aid Mr. Maclean, C.E., and under his advice of whom twenty or thirty were present, and at which Mr.not only will Dr. Thorne Thorne’s recommendations be Mlall, one of the honorary surgeons, presided. Former

carried out in their fulness, but additional measures will house-surgeons, too, testify to the same treatment at the

be taken to secure an efficient ventilation of the sewers hands of the matron. Such unanimous testimony maywithout detriment to the health of the inhabitants, and the

be a mere conspiracy against an innocent matron; but

sanitary staff of the local authority will be permanently such a view of it is extremely improbable. And it is

strengthened. With a better distribution of the water- monstrous that all the patients and all the servants of an

supply, a proper regulation of water-closets and of the institution, and its resident medical staff to boot, should be

waste-pipes of cisterns, and more efficient superintendence made uncomfortable for the sake of one person.

and some extension of the sewerage, Eastbourne will be ———

almost entirely freed from the risk of recurrence of an out- ROYAL M I C R O S C O P I C A L SOCIETY.break of disease such as that which has recently led toofficial inquiry on the part of the Privy Council, and which A VERY successful soirée was given by the Royal Micro-has thrown a cloud over the health reputation of the place. scopical Society on the evening of the 20th inst. at King’sThe sanitary condition of our health-resorts is not a ques- College, which was fully attended, and at which, as usual,tion of mere local interests; and it is obvious that what a very large number of exquisitely-prepared microscopicconduces most to the sanitary reputation of such resorts objects were exhibited. Amongst the most interesting ofmust conduce most to the welfare of the inhabitants. The these were the objects from the deep-sea dredgings, re-necessity for the recent official inquiry at Eastbourne ought cently undertaken by Dr. Carpenter, who himself attended,never to have arisen; and it could not have arisen had the and courteously explained the nature of the specimens helocal sanitary authority properly carried out the duties had collected. These included the lowly-organised Astro-entrusted to it by the Legislature, and the inhabitants rhiza, in which the small clump of protoplasm, of whichthemselves seen to, and aided in, the effective performance. the animal is composed, is surrounded by a case of san.dof those duties. The general state of the health of East- grains loosely aggregated together, and found at the depthbourne stands well, and the inhabitants will have them- of 540 fathoms; the Botellina, the structure of which isselves only to blame if the blot upon its reputation, arising similar, but which possesses a mouth; the Saccamina andfrom the recent prevalence of fever, is not immediately Pilulina, the latter of which has a beautiful shell, made upand permanently swept away. Now that the public can be of white sand grains, worked up with the pointed ends ofassured that the local authority is doing properly its duty sponge spicules, and brought up alive from a depth of

and removing the evils discovered by the late inquiry, we 1215 fathoms ; Rhabdammina, some of which were obtainedhave little doubt that the town will very quickly recover from a depth of three miles ; with many other Foraminifera,the favour of seekers after health and pleasure. Sponges, Radiolaria, &c. These, as may be supposed, at-

____ tracted great interest, as proving the existence of active

THE BRADFORD INFIRMARY. life at depths and under conditions that were formerly be-THE BRADFORD INFIRMARY. lieved to be unfitted for the performance of the vital ope-

WE have survived an attempt to read all that has ap- rations of even the lowest organisms. In other parts ofpeared in the Bradford newspapers for the last month or the room specimens of almost every class of the animalsix weeks on the subject of the discord between the resident kingdom were exhibited, the recognition of which wasmedical officers of the Bradford Infirmary and the matron of materially facilitated by the descriptive catalogue publishedthat institution. Notwithstanding that it seems to have been by Charles Stewart, F.L.S. We noticed some magnificentthe principal subject in Bradford during this time, the exact specimens of Hyalonema and Euplectella. In one of the

629

upper rooms of the College demonstrations of spectrum doubt, we shall have a municipal government for Londonanalysis were conducted. The number of microscopes of which will be endowed with powers of taxation for all localall kinds and descriptions, from the cheap but by no means objects, and it will then be most desirable that the admi-to be despised students’ microscope to the complicated in- nistration of the Poor Law should be carried out, subject tostrument of Ross and others, must have amounted to many municipal control. But until that time we can see nohundreds.

____

alternative to giving support to the central board, or ratherthe President of the Poor-law Board; and our chief regret

THE HOMOLOGIES OF THE MANDIBLE at being compelled to do so lies in the fact that so manyAND HYOID BONE. of Mr. Goschen’s staff are either paralysed by red tape, or

A 1dOST interesting paper on the Skeleton of the Verte- have obtained their appointments by means and influencesbrata was read on Thursday, April 21st, before the Linnæan in which the question of competence had very little place.Society, by Mr. Mivart, F.R.S. The author’s remarks were One great advantage the Bill will, undoubtedly, confer on

chiefly confined to the homologies of the hyoid and mandi- the sick poor in workhouses. It will secure for them suf-

bular arches, and of the 11 chevron bones" which occasion- ficient cubic space, ventilation, and medical appliances;ally underlie the bodies of the caudal vertebræ of mam- and we may be permitted to hope that the very expense ofmalia. Owen and Carus regard the bronchial arches as this liberal in-door treatment will protect the sick poor" splanchnic" elements, while according to Prof. Huxley from anything like a harsh application of the workhouse

they are the " serial homologues" of the thoracic and abdo- test, and will lead the guardians to carry out the system ofminal ribs. Mr. Mivart, on the other hand, considers that dispensaries thoroughly, in order that the sick may, as far

they answer to the internal ventral laminæ of embryonic as possible, be treated promptly and economically in theirexistence, or are, in other words, 11 apaxial" elements. This own homes.

____

view he holds to be supported by the fact that in certain SIR THOMAS WATSON.sharks cartilaginous elements are superadded outside the

SIR THOMAS WATSON.

bronchial vessels, which answer to the costal or external- THE profession will hear with much concern that Sir" paraxial"- ventral plates. To judge from the extracts Thomas Watson has been seriously ill. The attack beganwhich Mr. Mivart read before the meeting, the paper will during the cold weather with severe muscular and neuralgicbe a valuable contribution to the literature of philosophical pains in the back and one thigh. This attack confined

anatomy. him to bed. Then, probably in consequence of a chill while-

sitting up in bed, he got inflammatory congestion of theTHE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND THE lower part of both lungs. The pulmonary symptoms soon

MEDICAL BilL. began to subside, and have now almost entirely passedTHE debate on the proposed Medical Bill at the Comitia away. Sir Thomas is still confined to his bed, but there is

Majora of the College of Physicians, on Monday last, every reason to hope that he will continue to make steady

displayed the existence of very strong feelings with respect progress towards complete recovery. The medical friendsto more than one of the provisions of that measure. We

in attendance upon him are Dr. Burrows and Dr. Georgeto more than one of the provisions ot that measure. BVe in attendance upon him are Dr. Burrows and Dr. Georgeunderstand that, although no formal resolution to that

Johnson. —’——

effect was passed, a most decided opinion was expressed, on H.R.H. PRINCE LEOPOLD.all sides, that the present constitution of the General

MR. G. VIVIAN POORE, M.B. Lond., M.R.C.P., has beenMedical Council is most faulty, and should have been MR. G. VIVIAN PooxE, M.B. Lond., M.R.C.P., has been

amended. On the other hand, much indignation was appointed private medical attendant to Prince Leopold,expended on that part of the Medical Bill which vests the

whose health, unfortunately, requires close medical super-

power of final veto, and alteration of the educational vision. Mr. Poore was a distinguished student of Uni-

arrangements, in the hands of the Privy Council-that versity College Hospital (where he has recently filled the

is, speaking plainly, in the hands of Mr. Simon. We, office of resident medical officer), and took the Exhibition

too, think it a very undesirable arrangement that so much and Gold Medal in Medicine at the M.B. examination in.

power should be lodged in the hands of any one man, even 186S.

————

if he be as able as Mr. Simon. But we beg to remind the MEDICAL REFORM AT LIVERPOOL.College of Physicians, and indeed the profession generally,

MEDICAL REFORM AT LIVERPOOl.

that they have themselves alone to thank for the present A MEETING of the profession at Liverpool was held on

disposition of the Government to take extreme measures. the 25th instant, when a resolution was passed approvingHad the corporations frankly acknowledged the necessity strongly the establishment of a Conjoint Board. Mr. R.

of a minimum professional examination, to be carried out Hamilton proposed-" That this meeting is convinced thatnot by themselves but by an independent body, and had no enactment will give satisfaction to the profession at largethe corporations and the general profession united to insist which does not provide for a more direct representation of

upon the replacement of the present useless Medical the general body of practitioners on the General MedicalCouncil by a small and really representative one, the Council." The motion was unanimously agreed to. The

Government would, nay must, have yielded to their wishes. Courier adds that a telegram was read from Mr. Graves,They have made their own bed, and if they find they have M.P., stating that a strong opinion existed in Londonto lie upon it, we shall all know who is to blame. against the great powers given to the Privy Council. This

____

must have been well known to the meeting, but, strange to

METROPOLITAN POOR RELIEF. Bill. it does not seem to have discussed this feature of the

METROPOLITAN POOR RELIEF. Bill.THE Metropolitan Poor-Relief Bill passed the second A petition of the registered medical practitioners residing

reading on Monday night without a division. Although in Liverpool has been addressed to both Houses of Parlia-for the moment it contravenes some of the established ment, setting forth the practitioners’ gratification at theprinciples of public taxation and expenditure, we cannot introduction into Parliament of a Bill for the establishmentbut regard it as an important step in a direction which, if of a single joint examining board for each division of thepursued with firmness, must lead to a wonderful improve- kingdom. The petition further shows that the medicalment in the administration of poor relief. In time, no profession will refuse to rest satisfied with any legislation

630

which does not provide for the direct representation of THE Committee of the Association for Extending thethe members of the profession upon the General Medical Contagious Diseases Act to the Civil Population will meetCouncil, and, accordingly, desiderates such a provision in on Tuesday, May 3rd, at 12, Cavendish-square, at 2 P.M.,the Bill now before Parliament. to discuss the annual report and other business.

DR. SLATER AND THE CUARDIANS OF Dr. RUTHERFORD, C.B., Deputy Inspector-General of

ISLINCTON. Hospitals, will, it is expected, succeed Deputy Inspector-

THE Poor-law Board, in an answer to a memorial of Dr. General Dr. Crawford, as head of the Medical Branch, onTHE Poor-law Board, in an answer to a memorial of Dr. ,. , ,, ,, , ,. ,, .. , .

Slater, have informed him that the guardians, in electing the latter gentleman s vacating that appointment.

another person to his district, have acted within the scope .of their legal powers, and the Poor-law Board do not think SIR JOHN GRAY, M.P., is, we regret to hear, sufferingthat they have any authority to interfere in his behalf. from a severe attack of inflammation of the throat.

They would, however, be willing to send a copy of his -

memorial to the guardians. This Dr. Slater has declined. IN the case of the woman against whom we noticed lastWe have not heard that the guardians have acceded to the week that Dr. Aldis had taken out a summons for conveyingrequest of the Poor-law Board to be furnished with their in cab a child suffering from scarlet fever, a mitigatedobservations on the practical dismissal of Dr. Slater. The penalty has been imposed; but the magistrate announcedletter of the Poor-law Board, and the recent remarks of his intention to impose the full penalty in future cases.Mr. Goschen in the House of Commons, both point to the ———

necessity of revising the mode in which such appointments THE students at Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh, have justshall in future be made.

____ presented a splendid case of amputating instruments, witha highly flattering address, to Dr. Alexander Sinclair, who

LADY MORDAUNT. has for two years held the position of Demonstrator of

THE reference made in last week’s LANCET to Lady Mor- Anatomy at the Hall, and is now about to leave for England.daunt has called forth from Dr. Tyler Smith a letter in

————

The Times discourteous in tone, if not disingenuous in sub- Dr. HARDWICKE, the medical officer of health for Pad-stance. We had stated that Lady Mordaunt’s mental condi- dington, has instituted proceedings in four cases of neglecttion had for many months undergone no perceptible change; of vaccination; and Mr. Mansfield, the Marylebone magis-that her Ladyship was residing with Dr. Wynter and his trate, in adjudicating upon the cases, expressed himselffamily; and that dementia resulting from ordinary insanity strongly against the ignorance and obstinacy which hin-is almost invariably hopeless, but as the sequela of puerperal dered the effective operation of the Act.mania its prognosis is more favourable. To the first of ———.

these statements Dr. Tyler Smith gives a vague denial, and THE Bucks Militia, which has its head quarters at Highthen proceeds to insinuate that her Ladyship is under his Wycombe, is not to be called out for training this spring,medical care, and his only,-if not also under his own roof. in consequence of the prevalence of small-pox in the town.In an evening contemporary, Dr. Wynter confirms our ____

statement that Lady Mordaunt has been for the last three THE Town Council of Stamford held a special meetingweeks under his "immediate care" and "constant inspec- last week to take Mr. J. N. Radcliffe’s report on the sanitaryweeks under his "immediate care" and "

constant inspec- last week to take Mr. J.N.Radcliffe’s report on the e sanI .t ,arytion, while Dr. Tyler Smith must excuse us for sayin 9condition of the town into consideration, when it was una-that the opinion we have expressed as to her Ladyship s nimously decided to adopt the Local Government Act, inmental condition was derived from sources whose authority pursuance of Mr. Radcliffe’s recommendation.we decline to supersede by his own.

pursuance of M r.R ad c

liffe’s recommend at ion.

-

THE subscriptions to the fund for defraying the costs ofTHE SPECIAL CONSTABLE AT THE COLLEGE the projected inquiry upon sewage utilisation by a com-

OF SURGEONS. mittee of the British Association amount now to upwardsFROM a letter which Mr. Heath has forwarded to us, and of £1200, and we are glad to learn that the committee

which appears in another column, we learn, with pain and will begin their investigation forthwith.regret, that the statement made with so much bonhommie ————

by the President of the College of Surgeons at the meeting ON the evening of Thursday, the 21st inst., the attend-on the 22nd inst. was incorrect. It is simply an outrageous ants of the County and City of Worcester Pauper Lunaticfact, that the authorities of the College of Surgeons did so Asylum, assisted by the officers of the Scots Fusiliermistrust the Fellows and Members of their corporation Guards, gave an entertainment in honour of Dr. George -

that, on the eve of their assembling together, they took Stanley Elliott, medical assistant in the institution. Thesteps to swear in the most stalwart of the College servants programme included several vocal performances, in whichto act as a special constable in case of apprehended riot. Lieutenant-Colonel Moncrieff greatly distinguished himself; The official document quoted by Mr. Heath leaves no doubt and at the close a very handsome silver cup was presentedas to the fact of the constable’s being sworn in " to prevent to Dr. Elliott, in token of the esteem he was held in byfelonies and disorder" at the College of Surgeons, on the everyone connected with the Asylum, to which he was about24th March, and the statement made by Mr. Cock is there- to bid farewell.fore proved to be inaccurate.

-

The police authorities of the present day are not given THosE of our readers who belong to the public servicesto delegating power to irresponsible hands; and the idea, may be glad to have their attention directed to an adver-therefore, that a special constable was sworn in "months tisement in our columns announcing that the officers of theago," as suggested by Mr. Cock, with no special object in Navy and of the British and IndianMedical Services will dineview, was simply absurd, and a very little inquiry has together at Willis’s Rooms, on the 3rd of June, Sir Gal-sufficed to expose the recklessness of this official state- braith Logan, K.C.B., Director-General of the Armyment. Medical Department, to preside.